Abide

Who doesn't like to make plans?  I do.  I am a planner and want to have everything organized ahead of time.  Well, some people don't plan and seem to do well in life and that works for them, but as for me, I am a planner.

I currently live in a country where the antithesis of planning is survival.  Does what I wrote even make sense?  What I mean is planning and being organized is not a survival trait in Ukraine therefore, planning something actually goes against accomplishing your goals.  If you want to survive, then sometimes you have to work against your goals.  That can make life very, very complicated.

Goals? 

Yes, they are important.

I have some.  We all should have some.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish." - Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

How do you deal with setting and achieving goals in a world full of chaos?

You set your goals and you pursue them.

And when you hit the wall you remember:

"Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit:  for without me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned." - John 15:4-5 (KJV)

Before I left for Ukraine, I was drawn to this passage as I sat in my parents backyard reading my Bible in +70F sunshiny weather, working on a tan while the hummingbirds fluttered above me.  Yes, I digress a little to give you some color in this post.  It WAS a bit like a Disney movie.

I like to accomplish things, so I came back to Ukraine very excited and ready to start doing everything that I thought needed to be done.  I had goals.  I had ministry to accomplish.

And then those plans took a sharp turn in the wrong direction.

I found myself sitting in my warm flat with sub zero weather outside and snow falling outside my windows.  I viewed a winter wonderland before my very eyes.  (More color for you)  I then read these verses again.

As Christians,  we need to abide in him.

Abide means:
to act in accord with.

to submit to; agree to

to remain steadfast or faithful to; keep: If you make a promise, abide by it

If we want our lives to bear fruit, and live in ways that show others that we truly know him and are serving him, then we need to abide and stay close to him.  Because people watch each other all the time, and they can tell who is sincerely bearing fruit and who is faking it. Faking it doesn't count.  Faking it means doing nothing.  Faking it means your life is just a show. And the serious part about faking it is that God knows when we do it and he will prune that falseness right out of our lives.  He wants our lives to bear fruit that will bless others around us, not bring people constant problems.

Who wants to be a fake?  Who wants to live out a show all the time?  That's tiring and exhausting and does not really accomplish anything.  It bears fruit to a situation full of striving, strife and confusion.  Who wants that?

Better to abide.

Better to submit.

Better to be steadfast to the one who will always sustain you and never leave your nor forsake you.

Better to accomplish the goals he has for you.

Short Term Conversation

Short Term Missionaries/Missions.

Sigh.

Not an easy subject to address.

I am convinced that if you got a group of long term missionaries in a room with short term missionaries along with their leaders/directors of organizations all of who have a heart for missions and live stateside and have never lived anywhere overseas longer than three years, if that even and if you add various nationals who either make a living/support their churches/ministries through short term mission team trips and added a couple of Pastors from mega churches who define missions as short term mission teams, then if you then asked them all to talk about their experiences and try to develop a consensus or perspective on short term vs long term missions or how they can work better together, someone would be mopping up blood by the end of the meeting.

So, I'm not going there.

But Jamie, the very worst missionary, bravely broached the subject on her blog and started a dialogue that's turned into three blog posts. The first is HERE. I highly recommend you read it. If you have another two hours you can read through the comments.

I've experienced the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to short term missions and I've heard a lot of stories. What I really liked about these blog posts, was not so much what anyone was saying specifically, but that people were actually talking about the pros and cons about sending out short term teams. Talking about, and addressing the fact that those of us serving in this area of ministry need to dialogue more about what's going on and see if there are ways that this can be done better and what is really helping people. Because honestly, those of us who are here for the long run and the nationals, who usually are struggling to lead people in what can be very serious and difficult circumstances, don't necessarily need another puppet show on wheels rolling through town for a photo op with the orphans.

Here's my favorite bit from Jamie's latest blog post on the topic addressing the rational I've heard a hundred times in response to long term missionaries when discussing the problems of short term missions.

"The people who’s paths you cross in this life deserve to be treated with care and respect no matter their circumstance, no matter their lifestyle, no matter their level of education, no matter the color of their skin, no matter their language, and no matter their need.

It is the responsibility of the sending church, the participants, and the long-term missionaries on the ground, to work-together to make sure that while they’re busily transforming their inner-selves, they aren’t doing so to the detriment of the rest of God’s awesome and beloved creation."

That is probably one of the most profound things I've heard someone say about short term missions.

Some people use the rational, "These trips are not really for the people they are ministering to, it's really about what's happening to the people on the trip."

Take my word for it. People can get seriously hurt by that attitude.

It's always good to help others and yes, there is a blessing in giving your time and abilities to others. My first and last short term mission trip changed my entire life. But it challenged me to serve, not to receive.

I hope that the dialogue on short term teams and missionaries will keep going, and that ministry leaders can address strengths and weaknesses without shedding blood. The focus of missions should be on blessing the people God has called you to serve.

I apologize if I've offended any professional puppeteers.

Summer In Kyiv

We are sort in the full swing of summer here in Kyiv. I say, "sort of" because for the last couple of weeks, we have been experiencing nothing but rain! While it's nice not to have the hot humid days, the extreme opposite experience of rainy weather has made me miss the sunshine. I'm not sure I believe or understand global warming, but I definitely can say I believe in "global weather extremes."

Our ministry had a two week break so the staff could have some time off during the summer and so that we can rest and prepare for ministry changes. Lots of stuff going on and I will share as it unfolds. We need lots of prayer support right now.

I missed meeting with our Moms and was happy to be back at the Day Center this week. We celebrated a birthday and talked about how babies/children develop and how they learn by modeling and processing what they see and hear around them.

We talk about a lot of personal situations so I can't share everything we discuss, but it's such a blessing to know these young women and see them learn and grow. I have been helping this ministry for about a year and it's really encouraging to see the incredible changes in their lives. It's also a blessing to be able to pray for them and encourage them. They encourage me back by their strength and courage to face life's challenges.

Cliff Notes For Helping Others

I don't know why, but it seems that we make helping others really hard to do. There's always a lot of talk about what we want to do but in the end we seem to be hesitant to step out confidently with the knowledge of what God wants us to do.

Here are some "cliff notes" for helping others:

Loose the chains of injustice

Untie the cords of the yoke

Set the oppressed free

Break every yoke

Share your food with the hungry

Provide the poor wanderer with shelter

when you see the people without clothes, clothe them

Take care of your own family

Do away with the yoke of the oppression

Do away with accusations

Do away with malicious talk

Go out of your way to help hungry people

Satisfy the needs of the oppressed

Rebuild what others have torn down

Lay a foundation for people to live their life on

Repair broken walls

Restore homes

Honor the Lord over doing your own thing

Don't speak idle words.

I've taken this list from Isaiah 58. (paraphrased) It's interesting to me that "setting the oppressed free" is mentioned three times. "Feeding the hungry" is also listed twice. Why do you think these are mentioned repeatedly?

Enduring

People usually think that working with street kids or at risk children is difficult in regards to relating to them specifically or getting thru to them to help them change and grow.  To some degree this is hard, but most of the time it is not. They want help.  They want love.  They respond.

What is difficult is not the interacting part of the ministry with these children, but how difficult it is to actually get yourself into a position thru ministry, a church or an organization to be able to help them.  The political and exploitive factors that swirl around children without parental authority in their lives is unbelievable and unless you view it firsthand it's hard to comprehend or understand.  In Ukraine our organization constantly faces challenges and setbacks that would dishearten the strongest person.  It is discouraging to discover in your enthusiasm to help children that the forces of the world around you are pretty much against that idea most of the time.

After a particularly depressing meeting with our director this week, I came home absolutely deflated.  I just cannot understand why a group of people who want nothing more than to help children have to go through so much to do so.  I turned the problem over to God and began to think and pray about it.

"Children are a gift from God; they are his reward.".....Psalm 127:3 (LB)


Many verses in the Bible point out God's heart for children and how we are to treat and respect them.  This goes for not only children who are living in families but for those whose have been abandoned by or forgotten by their parents.  God makes it clear that he himself takes over the position of spiritual authority over fatherless children, "He is a father to the fatherless.".....Psalm 68:5 (LB) 


Because he himself has taken authority over children who are abandoned by their society or families, God gives those of us who are Christians a special mandate to take care of them. "The Christian who is pure and without fault, from God the Father's point of view, is the one who takes care of orphans and widows, and who remains true to the Lord--not soiled and dirtied by his contacts with the world."....James 1:27 (LB)


Part of our calling as Christians is to help abandoned children.  This is a Judeo/Christian value taken from the Bible not a "feel good" program.  No matter how difficult it gets or how much the world around us works against us, Christians are called to endure and continue to help these children.